States (plus D.C.) which have statutorially abolished alienation of affection:

Alamaba

Arizona

Arkansas

California

Colorado

Connecticut

Delaware

District of Columbia

Florida

Georgia

Indiana

Kansas

Maine

Maryland

Massachusetts

Michigan

Minnesota

Montana

Nebraska

Nevada

New Jersey

New York

North Dakota

Oklahoma

Oregon

Pennsylvania

Rhode Island

Tennessee

Texas

Vermont

Virginia

West Virginia

Wisconsin

Wyoming

States which have judicially abolished alienation of affection:

Idaho (1986)

Iowa (1981)

Kentucky (1992)

South Carolina (1992)

Washington (1980)

States in which alienation of affection is a viable cause of action:

Hawaii

Illinois

Mississippi

Missouri

New Hampshire

New Mexico

North Carolina

South Dakota

Utah

Ohio does not permit monetary recovery for alientation of affection (by statute), Louisiana never recognized it as a cause of action and Alaska does not have case law or statutes which clearly address the issue.

1776  Date named in Washington's reception statute, which adopted as the law of Washington the law of England as it existed in 1776, unless later superceded by Washington staute.

1791  Ratification of the Bill of Rights.

1837-1901  Reign of Queen Victoria; era of substantial changes in family law, including the first married women's property act (1883), passage of the bill authorizing absolute judicial divorce (1858), the first English custody statute granting chancellors the discretion to award custody of children younger than 7 to non-adulterous wives upon divorce et mensa thoro (1839). Her reign was characterized by an attack on the patriarchal family in which men had substantial power.

1839  Year of passage of the first English custody statute granting chancellors the discretion to award custody of children younger than 7 to non-adulterous wives upon divorce et mensa thoro (husbands retained custody after the child reached the age of 7).

1970  Washington Legislature reduces the age of consent to marry for men from 21 to 18 (same as it was for women).

1971  Reed v. Reed decided (the first time the Supreme Court struck down a sex classification based on the Equal Protection Clause).

1972  Washington community property law amended to take away management power from husbands.

1973  No-fault divorce authorized in Washington; Washington, following the Uniform Marriage and Divorce Act, adopts the ground of irremedial breakdown as the exclusive grounds for divorce.

1996  Defense of Marriage Act, authorizing states to pass laws declaring that they will not recognized same-sex marriages conducted lawfully in other states, signed into law by President Clinton.

1998  Washington amends marriage statute to declare marriage a civil contract between a man and a woman, and declaring that same-sex marriages conducted lawfully in other states will not be valid in Washington.